The Overlord Dominates The Marvel Universe
by DarkAvenger001
Summary: A fight between good and evil has the unforeseen circumstance of giving birth to a new and far more dangerous evil, one thought to be long extinct.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, folks, I should warn you readers of a few things before we get started. First of all, there will Marvel characters that will die and they won't always be heroes/villains. Yes, some civilian characters will meet their brutal and sticky end. Also, a couple Marvel characters will be a tad out of character. Trust me, you'll know it when you see it. Also, this doesn't take place during a specific point in the Marvel canon. Peter Parker is Spider-man and married to Mary Jane. The X-men are led by Charles Xavier with Cyclops leading the ground teams. That is all.**

**A/N: Please remember to review with any comments, question, concerns, or constructive criticism that you might have.**

Chapter 1:

A New Evil Rises

New York City was no stranger to massive super fights. The City has seen fights between all manner of superhero teams and supervillans. The Fantastic Four, the X-men, and many others have made their appearance throughout the years and as a result, these fights and the damage caused by them have become commonplace and this day was no exception. The Avengers were once more fighting the Masters of Evil. Many of the Avengers were dealing with problems elsewhere, so their number was temporarily reduced to six, making them equal in number to the Masters of Evil's numbers. Captain America faced against his longtime foe, the leader of the Masters of Evil, Red Skull, Thor faced his brother Loki, Luke Cage took on Abomination, Ms. Marvel took on her own longtime adversary, Moonstone, Wolverine battled his villainous counterpart, Sabretooth, and Spider-man fought against his friend turned deadly creature, the Lizard. Most civilians, when caught in this sort of situation, either run to a safe distance or take cover inside a building, the latter being the case for a very specific family called the Blagdans. The father, John, ushered his wife, Beverly, and eight-year-old son, Jack into the bedroom while he watched from the window.

"You're going down this time, Skull!" Captain America said as engaged his opponent in a melee.

"That is where you are wrong, Herr Captain," Skull said, dodging one of the Captain's punches and driving another one into his gut.

Meanwhile, Spider-man was using his superhuman agility to dodge the claws and snapping jaws of the Lizard.

"Dr. Connors, snap out of it! You have to fight the lizard part of your brain!" Spider-man insisted.

The large humanoid reptile, instead of answering, roared and charged again, but this time, the webhead shot a web-line at the Lizard's chest before using the Lizard's momentum to spin in place before throwing him away, not realizing just where his opponent was flying, namely the apartment of the Blagdans. As soon as the spider-powered hero realized the sort of building he'd sent his enemy into, he leapt off the ground hoping to save the people inside. When the Lizard got back to his feet, he was in even more of a bestial rage than before. So much so, in fact that he attacked the first thing he saw, which just so happened to be John Blagdan. He slashed the poor man across the chest, sending him flying through the door to the master bedroom, where his wife and son were hiding. Beverly shrieked at the sign of her husband's mangled and bloody corpse, drawing the Lizard's attention.

When the Lizard made his way into the room, looking for more prey, his attention was first drawn to the sobbing child that had pulled from his mother in order to try and awaken his father.

"Daddy, wake up! Please, Daddy, wake up!" Jack wailed, as he continued to try and shake his father awake.

The Lizard stalked towards the child, his claws preparing to gut the small child. As the reptile's claws descended to cut the child's life tragically short, Jack's mother made the ultimate sacrifice by leaping into their path and taking the fatal blow in the place of her child, covering little Jack in his mother's blood. Just then, Spider-man hit the Lizard with a double-heeled kick, sending the Lizard crashing into the wall where Spidey webbed him up before injecting him with an antidote, turning him back to his human form. The Webhead then made his way over to the child that was weeping over his parents' corpses.

"Hey, kid, it's okay now. I'll get you out of here," Spidey said, offering his hand to the child just as the rest of the Avengers arrived after their own opponents, realizing they were beaten and managed to escape.

Just as they entered, the young boy looked up at them with a expression no small child should have: one of unbridled rage and hatred.

"IT'S. ALL. YOUR. FAULLLLTTTT!" Jack screamed, his rage unlocking something within himself, something hidden away in his genes after being passed on for hundreds of generations. His eyes turned a bright yellow with blue lines forming over his skin. The energy that was released was so powerful that the Avengers were actually knocked back a few steps.

Meanwhile, in the Netherworld, what appeared to be a walnut with ears was loitering in an old and rundown throne room inside a very old tower suddenly looked to the ceiling.

"Awaken the minions and fire up the gates! A new master has finally revealed himself!" the walnut yelled.

Groups of small imp-like creatures, the minions the walnut spoke to, cheered and headed for a portal in the center of the throne room.

Back on the surface, the Avengers were trying to push through the energy being released by young Jack, hoping to stop him from doing whatever he was doing. Before they could get close, however, a stone structure broke out of the ground and many of the minions came out, attacking the Avengers.

"Master! Master! This way!" one of the minions called over Jack's cries.

Hearing the minion's calls, Jack calmed down enough to look at the minions, considering listening to them. When he saw the Avengers, finally realizing that there were others beyond him, Spider-man, and the minions there, he decided to listen to the minions and followed them through the portal after glaring over his shoulder at the heroes.

He looked around when he reached somewhere he didn't recognize.

"Greetings, young one," said a voice from the shadows. Jack looked to see a creature similar to the minions walk out, though he was more hunched over and had grey skin.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Jack asked.

"In order of your questions, I am Gnarl, minion master and devoted servant of darkness. As to where you are, you are in the Dark Tower, young one, the center of power for every Overlord. As to where the Dark Tower is, it is located in the Netherworld."

"Netherworld? I think I've heard of that on tv. It was another name for…Hell! I'm in Hell!? I thought you only went there when you were bad after you died! Did I die!?" Jack exclaimed, his frightened young mind not understanding what was going on.

"No, young one, you haven't died," Gnarl said with a chuckle, "And this isn't Hell, though I guess you could say we're neighbors. As for being bad, well, let's get to that point later."

"So, why did those things bring me here?" Jack asked, calming down slightly.

"Well, that is a bit of a story. One that involves your physical changes," Gnarl said gesturing to the young boy.

"Changes?" Jack asked, looking down at himself and seeing for the first time the blue lines that were all over his body, "Ah! What happened to me!?"

"I will explain, young one. You see, I saw what happened with your family and I believe that your pain and anger at your loss activated the great and powerful lineage that has long been dormant, a lineage that traces all the way back to our last Overlord, who was tragically cut down not long after destroying the Glorious Empire. Anyway, the cursed wench that killed him didn't know that Mistress Kelda had hidden away his one and only child, which was the first step to a long, but rather dull line of descendents that eventually led to you."

"What is an overlord? Does that have something to do with why you brought me here?"

Gnarl chuckled, "Right you are, young one. You're quite smart for such a young man. You see, an overlord is the leader of the minions and the ruler of all he surveys, a conqueror and destroyer. He is the most powerful dark ruler in the land and those that stand against him are crushed under his boot. Now, in the old days, there'd be elves, dwarves, maybe a fellowship of heroes, and all manner of forces of light, but nowadays, there're more heroes out there than flies on a twenty-foot tall pile of manure."

"So, what does this have to do with me?"

"Ah, yes, apologies, I got a little sidetracked. You see, you have the potential to be the next overlord with training, of course, and I would like to give you that training."

"So, what would I do if I become an overlord?" Jack asked.

"You'd be able to do whatever you want, though you'll be expected to build a new Dark Domain, but that probably doesn't mean much to you, so perhaps you'll need a better reason. You see, there will be many people that will stand in your way, including those so-called 'Masters of Evil.' Feh! The arrogance of them to actually take the title that rightfully belongs to an overlord!" Gnarl said, going off on another tangent before seeing Jack's bored expression, "Oh, sorry, young one, got distracted again. Anyway, the heroes will also try and prevent you from succeeding, so you'll be able to get your revenge against them."

While that sold Jack, he did have one more question, "How long will this training take?"

"Well, that requires a bit more explanation. You see, in the years since the last master died, I've had the minions watch over the surface to keep up to date. During one of these scouting trips, they found a very interesting artifact that will allow us, for one time only, to slow the passage of time here in the Netherworld. In short, what will be days on the surface will be years here in the Netherworld," Gnarl explained.

"Okay, I just got one more question, Gnarl," Jack said.

"Which is?"

"When can we start?"

Gnarl smiled, "Immediately."

**Ten Netherworld Years/ Ten Surface World Days**

"Congratulations, Master, you have completed your training and the minions have accepted you as their new master. The Netherworld has recognized you as the new Overlord!"

The young boy formerly named Jack was now a young man, easily six feet tall and thick with muscles. His hair had become silver. He was thick with muscle, making him a very intimidating presence even without his the years of nearly nonstop training, Gnarl had taught the Overlord-in-training everything he knew. Jack was trained in multiple forms of melee combat that Gnarl observed over the many years, including the use of different forms of weapons, not to mention the use of magic, including the most important spell in an overlord's arsenal, the evil presence spell, the magic spell that bends others to an overlord's will. He was also taught strategy, since, while overlords could get by being brutish thugs in the old days, in the more modern times, it was better if the new overlord was able to outthink his enemies rather than relying merely on the usual strategy of diving straight into the fight. He learned about the different heroes and villains in the world, as well as the history of the overlords. He learned how, unfortunately, the more attention span-lacking minion tribes, namely the reds, blues, and greens, all left the tower after a century, not to be seen since, taking many of the artifacts with them.

He nodded, "Thank you, Gnarl. I can't wait to finally get started on achieving my revenge," the new overlord said. Gnarl's training had taken what innocence Jack had and threw it out the window, now he was fully in sync with the overlord mentality and wanted nothing more than to conquer everything he set his sights on and take his revenge on those he saw as responsible for the death of his family, most of all: Spider-man and the Lizard.

"I can't wait to watch you give those fools a good smiting, my lord!" Gnarl said, chuckling.

"Oh, I'm not going to kill them all right away, especially Spider-man. I'm going to do to him what he did to me and take everything from him: his job, his home, his friends, his loved ones, everything. I'm going to make him suffer worse than anyone has ever suffered before and only then will I give him permission to die."

Gnarl chuckled giddily, "That plan is so brutal and cruel! I love it! That's the way a true Overlord thinks!"

"Now, I think I need to choose a new name, a name to represent my new place in life. My name will be Grim Ebonyheart, the new Overlord!"

The minions all began to chant, "Hail Overlord Ebonyheart! Hail Overlord Ebonyheart!"

"So, what would you suggest we do first, Gnarl?"

"Well, unfortunately, the minion tribes that left took the Tower Heart with them, so we need to retrieve it first, but luckily, our spies on the surface informed me of a deal going down that some humans have the Heart and are actually planning on selling it to some collector. You must get it back, Master! It is crucial that we retrieve it!"

The newly renamed Grim nodded his agreement before summoning five minions, which was all he could summon due to the severe lack of lifeforce, and headed through the portal. The tower gate came up in a warehouse that Gnarl had managed to purchase ahead of time. He was dressed in the armor of his predecessor and carried his mace as he led the minions out of the warehouse to the docks where the deal was taking place. The moon was already high in the sky by the time the overlord reached the surface, so he was able to stick to the shadows as he and the minions made their way to the deal. Reaching the site, Grim and the minions found the area guarded by some low-level thugs, carrying various makeshift melee weapons, like baseball bats, crowbars, and lead pipes.

One of the thugs was talking loudly, "So, what is all this shit that were transporting anyway?"

"Just some museum shit," a second thug said, "Gotta say they're kinda creepy. Have you seen that one statue that looks like some kinda demon? The damn thing is actually glowing! Not to mention that weird giant ass ball. For some reason, that thing creeps me out the most! I can't wait for us to offload it all."

"So, what's the deal with the sheep? Why're we smuggling those little puffballs anyway?" the first thug asked.

"Who cares? Maybe they just wanna avoid taxes, maybe they're being used to smuggle drugs. Doesn't matter so long as we gettin' paid," the second said, "Besides, it's not like you gotta deal with 'em, just keep 'em in the warehouse with that creepy shit."

Just as he finished saying that, Grim came out of the shadows and smashed the first thug in the face with his mace, killing him with one blow, while his minions ganged up on the second, beating him with their maces and little fists. The overlord and his minions moved inside the warehouse before the other thugs in the area noticed their presence, after grabbing the lifeforce they dropped.

"Sheepies!" one of the minions cheered.

Sure enough, there was a large pen filled with the "fuzzy wastes of space" as Gnarl would call them. Grim, however, saw them in a different light, namely as a source of easy lifeforce. With a wave of his hand, the Overlord sent his minions into the pen, where they proceeded to slaughter the sheep and bringing the newly released lifeforce to their master.

Grim used the telepathic communicator to contact Gnarl back in the Netherworld, "Gnarl, can you have Grubby dig a brown minion spawn point in here?"

"Of course master. It will take a few minutes though," Gnarl said through the helmet's link.

Just as Gnarl said that, Grim heard a voice outside the warehouse, "I think he's in here, surround the warehouse and we'll break in and take the fucker down!"

Grim spoke to the minion master once more, "He has one minute. Tell him to hustle."

Now that the sheep had been wiped out, the minions returned to their dark master as they prepared for the thugs to get in. The thugs began to bang on the doors to get inside and Grim readied his mace. Just as they were breaking through, a minion spawn mound came out of the ground. Grim immediately used it to summon five more brown minions, reaching his maximum command capacity. He sent the minions at the large group of thugs that came in, while Grim himself took out three of them. The minions, being deceptively strong despite their small size, managed to make quick work of the remaining thugs. The last thug was brought before the Overlord, who kicked him in the face to knock him on his back, while he prepared to smash his head with his mace.

"You won't get away with this! Do you know who I work for? We answer to the Kingpin!"

Grim lowered his mace and growled, "I'll let you know when I start giving a damn," before stomping on his head, turning it into paste. "Alright, minions, start smashing the crates and find anything of value!"

The minions immediately went to work, mostly finding museum pieces that Grim had no use for. They'd just finished smashing their tenth crate when they found something very interesting: a large cylinder decorated with the image of a minion.

"Oh, that's a command upgrade, master! It'll allow you to summon more minions to your side!"

"Excellent, we'll take that too," the Overlord said as he watched the minions smash open another crate, this one containing the Tower Heart that they were looking for.

"Alright, minions, take the Tower Heart and the upgrade. We're taking them both back to the Tower."

"Yes, Master!" the minions chanted before they grabbed the items and the Overlord led them back to the Tower gate.

Just before the group took the items inside the warehouse, a 'thwip' sound was heard and something stopped the Overlord in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder to see a webline attached to his shoulder. He followed it with his eyes to where it came from to see the person that he hates most: Spider-man.

"You know, the renaissance fair's next week, but I gotta say that I love the black knight look."

Grim just grabbed the webline and ripped it off his armor as he turned around to glare at the web-slinging hero.

"Ooo, the strong silent type, huh? Usually the bad guys are monolouging my ear off by now, you know, telling me how they were going to 'crush me like the bug I was.'"

Grim still stayed silent.

"Still nothing? Okay, let's start this over. First, we'll introduce ourselves," Spider-man joked, "Like me, I'm Spider-man. I also go by Webhead, the Wall-Crawler, the Arachnid, or Spidey Now, you."

"We've met before," Grim said.

"Really? Pretty sure I'd remember meeting someone like you."

"I'm not surprised that you don't remember. It was only days for you, but it was years for me. The last time you saw me, I was a small child crying over my parents' bloody corpses. Tell me do you remember the boy named Jack? The boy that became an orphan because of you?" Grim asked, his anger causing his blood to start boiling.

"Oh, God," Spider-man said, remembering his failure, "Look, I tried to save them. I did the best that I could!"

"I don't care! It was your fault that the Lizard was there! It was you that sent him there!" Grim said, as he sensed the minions had brought the artifacts to the Tower Gate, "But none of that matters now. Tell your fellow 'heroes' of my presence. Tell them that you and the rest of the Avengers have created a threat that you've never seen before. Tell them that the Overlord will see their world come crashing down around them!"

With that, Grim ran into the warehouse before taking the Tower Gate back to the Netherworld. Upon reaching the Netherworld, Grim addressed Gnarl, "Gnarl, do you have another location that you can send up a Tower Gate?"

"Of course, Master. One must always be prepared."

"Good, you once told me that you could have them self-destruct, so I want you to do so for the one I just came through."

"I thought you wanted to let that web-shooting fool to suffer before he died, my lord."

"Knowing his penchant for surviving, I doubt he'll survive. Besides, we can't risk him calling S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers and telling them where the Gate is."

"As you wish, Master," Gnarl said, immediately getting to work at fulfilling his master's wishes.

Meanwhile, back on the surface, Spider-man had made it into the warehouse the man claiming that a mere ten days ago he'd been a small boy had disappeared into. The apparent age jump didn't really take Spidey by surprise, considering some of the things he'd seen. Hell, he had a literal god on speed dial, right after his favorite pizza place. Anyway, when he got inside, he found a massive structure with a creepy blue aura pulsing around it. As he approached it, his spider-sense sent a hundred pins drilling into his brain. It was as this happened that he noticed the pulsing was quickly speeding up.

"Crap!" Spidey shouted, as he used a web zipline to shoot himself out the window and swing as fast as he could before the structure exploded, destroying half of a city block. "Jeez, that was close. I should probably let the others know what happened."

Meanwhile, back in the Netherworld, Grim turned to his throne and saw that a visitor had apparently dropped in.

Gnarl, sensing his master's sudden annoyance, spoke up quickly, "Master, I was going to tell you that we had a guest, but you gave me a task to do first, so I didn't have a moment."

Grim, ignoring the minion master, stepped towards the throne and the person that had the audacity to **sit** on **his throne**.

"Who are you? Why are you here? And what makes you think I won't kill you?" Grim asked his female guest, who shot to her feet at his question. This motion was the only one that was frantic or worried. Once she was on her feet, her posture turned to one of grace and sensuality. It was then that Grim got a good look at her. She had pale skin and long jet black hair. She wore a black corset with the strings in the middle were loose enough to expose her middle and stopped at her navel. She wore matching elbow-long gloves and boots that went up to her thigh and had loose strings that exposed the sides of her legs.

"My apologies, Dark One, I was waiting for your return and when you did, I was so overwhelmed that I couldn't act properly. I hope that you forgive me," she said, slightly bowing her head.

"If I didn't, you'd be dead. Now, answer me who are you and why are you here?"

"My name is Selene, my lord, and I am here with the hope to become your mistress," the now-named Selene said.

"And why would you want that?" Grim asked.

Selene smiled slightly, "Well, you see, my lord, every since I was a little girl, I had wished to be the mistress of an overlord. Where most little girls dreamed of being princesses and being rescued by some hero in gleaming armor, I dreamed of standing side-by-side with a powerful overlord as we conquered all in our path. (**A/N: In short, I essentially made Selene an overlord groupie. What serial killers can have them, but an overlord can't?**) For centuries, I was worried that I missed out on my chance to live my dream when that red-haired whore and her muscle-bound nitwit of a barbarian killed your predecessor, but then, centuries later, I sense a magical energy that means only that a new overlord has come into being."

"Centuries?"

"Oh, yes, my liege. You see I have the ability to absorb the lifeforce from others, which allows me to not only power my different abilities, but also keeps me young, so long as I don't exert myself."

"How could you sense the magical energy?" Grim asked.

"I am a powerful sorceress. Such things are a simple matter for me," Selene said shrugging.

"I see and why should I let you be one of my mistresses?" Grim asked.

"You mean besides the obvious?" Selene asked with a seductive smile as she twisted her body to show off her impressive body.

"Unlike my predecessors, I have decided not to choose my mistresses solely based on appearances. Now, what can you offer me?"

Selene seemed to be caught off guard by this. Grim figured she'd expected him to jump at the chance to bed a woman as beautiful as her.

She erased the surprise from her face quickly, "Well, as I said, I'm a powerful sorceress. I also have telepathy, telekinesis, and numerous other abilities, not to mention that I have informants that could help you in your conquest. Also, I have a…friend I suppose that you could call her that would likely wish to be one as well. I also happen to have the ability to increase your no doubt already impressive physical attributes and spells. Finally, I have already received word of an interesting little facility in the Canadian wilderness that might not only offer you a very useful servant, but also some very hard to come by supplies."

"What sort of supplies?" Grim asked, liking her offer more and more, though he was keeping his expression neutral.

"Have you ever heard of the metal known as adamantium?" Selene asked with a smile.

"Very well, I accept your offer. You'll first use that spell of yours and then we'll decide what to do next," Grim said as he started walking up the steps to the private quarters, his voice still monotone. He got about five steps up when he noticed that Selene was still standing by the throne, clearly waiting for him to give her orders. "Well? Come on, we'll do this in the private chambers."

She hurried after him with the exuberance of a trained dog following its master.

While Grim was dealing with Selene, the entire roster of the Avengers, even the reserves, was meeting at their tower with someone that rarely involved himself in the more 'normal' crises: Dr. Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme.

"So, why have you called us here, Doctor?" Steve Rogers AKA Captain America asked, "In case you didn't hear, there's been an explosion down in the warehouse district and we need to check it out."

"Of course, Captain. I wanted to let you know that ten days ago, I sensed a dark energy being released. I tried to find out about it, but it was so small that I couldn't get a good enough sample to analyze, to use a more common description. What little I could determine was that there was nothing about it in the more obvious books in the Sanctorum. I later heard that the energy originated near your fight with the Masters of Evil. Did you notice anything strange during the fight?"

"Yes, actually, there was a boy, whose parents died as collateral damage during the fight. He released this energy that held us back when we came to help him. We mostly assumed he was a mutant. Even after these strange creatures came and took him away."

"Creatures? Could you describe them to me?" Strange asked.

"Sure, but why? What is so important that you'd tell us now when there is a crisis we need to help with?"

"Because that same energy that I sensed ten days ago, I sensed today at the epicenter of the bomb area. I just hope to find something that can tell me the source."

"So, you think…what? That someone made a 'magic' bomb?" Tony Stark asked sarcastically, the biggest magic-pessimist of the group.

"Possibly," Strange said, completely ignoring Stark's trademark sarcasm.

"I believe I can help ya out there, Doc," Spidey said, as he climbed in through a window, his costume slightly burned from the explosion, "And I don't think you're going like it."

**A/N: And there's chapter 1! Please remember to review with any comments, question, concerns, or constructive criticism that you might have.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Reviews:**

**coduss:**

**Glad you like it. As to your worries, those that will be corrupted by the overlord will be used as generals and sources of information and upgrades, though I'd be lying if I said there won't be at least a little of that. If I had to put a percentage on it, I'd say about 5% of the story will allow that and it will be more for psychological warfare, though as an evil overlord, one can't exactly expect him to be romantic now can they?**

**karthik9:**

**I'm glad that you like the story thus far. Hope that continues.**

**Guest:**

**Here ya go then!**

**barber477:**

**I'm pleased you're enjoying the story so far**

**DrZevil:**

**First of all, because I've always wanted to say this, what's up, Doc? Heh heh. Anyway, I'm glad you're liking the story. I've read your Spider-Overlord story and I really like it. I think it's really well done, so it makes me feel better knowing a fellow author, especially one that does such good work, is reading this.**

**Just a Question:**

**Ironically some of your suggestions were some things that I'd considered, like the need for technology and his need to affect more than one person with the evil presence spell. However, you do seem to be forgetting something that I will be adding later, which is the fact that beings that are essentially living WMDs exist in the Marvel Universe. Also, teaching the minions tactics might be a bit of a stretch since, outside of Gnarl, they aren't exactly known for their brainpower. However, I will be giving them upgrades to make them better. I won't go into any more right now. I did however forget about Latveria, which is a bit embarrassing, since one of my favorite heroes is a member of the Fantastic Four. I will probably do that since it'll allow me to introduce another character I want to add. A character that, by the way, has their own army that would prove useful to the overlord. Next, no, I won't be making this a crossover with anything besides overlord and anything that's appeared in Marvel comics. As for your hopes in regard to the harem, I will be keeping it with having 'main girls' that will have most of the face time, but there will be others…obviously.**

**Guest:**

**Does this answer your question? Hope you like the new chapter!**

**A/N: Hey, everybody, sorry it took me so long to post the new chapter, but the reason can be summed up in two words: Graduate School…why was there lightning outside my house when I wrote that? Eh, whatever, my schoolwork takes up a lot of my free time, so I'll do this as quickly as I can, but obviously it won't be as fast as during the summer break. Anyway, please remember to review with any comments, question, concerns, or constructive criticism that you might have.**

Chapter 2:

Cutting off a Head

Selene was a tad disappointed that her new lord and master only allowed her to use the spell to enhance his abilities while they were taking advantage of the privacy of his private quarters, but she figured as his first mistress she'll have plenty of time to serve her master the way she'd been hoping for. Thanks to her efforts, while Grim wouldn't be able to beat the Hulk in an arm-wrestling match, he'd be able to at least hold his own against the stronger than normal warriors of the world and at least damage the angry green giant if they did ever come to blows.

The two of them, with Grim's minions, passed through a portal that Selene created with her magic to reach the facility that Selene mentioned.

What they found was quite surprising to the two and was amusing for Grim as well. Everyone in the facility was dead, save for a single blood-soaked teenage girl. She had long gangly black hair with a torn-up hospital gown being the only clothing she had. The most interesting thing that was about the girl was the two sets of the claws coming from her clenched fists.

"Who are you?" the girl growled at the two.

"Someone that can give you a new home. A place where you can use your…unique skills to proper use," Selene said with a smile.

"And why should I go with you?" the girl said, glaring at them.

"Because we're alike," Grim said, "We both have had everything taken from us. I can see it in your eyes. You had everything taken from you. The world just took everything you knew from you time and time again. Well, if you come with us and obey my orders, you can get some payback and you'll be the one taking, instead of being the one people take from."

The girl thought about it for a few seconds before she nodded, "Alright. What will you be needing me to do?"

Grim just gestured to the corpses that littered the ground, saying, "What you're clearly good at."

"You should know that a lot of this was due to them hitting me with a 'trigger scent,' a pheromone-based chemical that sends me into a feral rage."

Grim shrugged, "We can train you in the ways of violence. Trust me when I say that with us, you'll be getting a lot of practice." The girl just nodded in agreement. "So, what should we call you?"

"The scientists called me 'X-23,' but my mother called me 'Laura.' Call me whatever you wish."

"Your mother? Where is she?" Grim asked to which Laura just pointed to the corpse of a woman with a pair of stab wounds in her gut, a sad expression on her face, telling Grim that the trigger scent she'd mentioned was the cause of her mother's death. "Then, I guess we have something else in common. My parents were taken from me as well. I plan on getting revenge on those responsible for it." There was a slight flinch on Laura's face. It was only there an instant, but Grim caught it and he knew that she was his. "So, do you know where they keep the adamantium?"

"I didn't have unrestricted access to the facility, so I'm not completely certain, but I'd guess that it was somewhere in one of the labs…uh, you haven't told me what I'm supposed to call you."

"My name is Grim Ebonyheart. I'm the newest Overlord, so you can call me either 'my lord' or 'master,'" Grim said to which Laura nodded in agreement, "This is Selene, my first mistress," he said, either not noticing or caring when Selene shivered with desire at being called his mistress, "Her orders are second only to mine. Understood?" Laura nodded again, "Good. Now, let's find that adamantium."

Grim led his minions, his mistress, and his new subordinate into the lab. It was a slaughterhouse. It didn't take much consideration for Grim to guess who was the one that caused it. They went through the facility, searching lab after lab for hours until they found the massive tank of the liquid metal. After he ordered his minions to pick it up, he led the group through another portal and took them back to the Netherworld.

While they were searching, back at the Avengers Tower, Spider-man was just finishing up his explanation about the events at the docks.

"So, let me get this straight," Tony Stark said, "The kid that lost his parents in that fight with the Masters of Evil was at the docks. Only he wasn't a kid anymore and he was leading these creatures as they slaughtered the Kingpin's goons and stole some artifacts. Not only that, but he has essentially declared war on us and he's now calling himself 'the Overlord.' That about right?"

"Pretty much," Spider-man said, "He had a real dark knight thing going on. I'm talking a mace and armor and everything."

"While at first glance, he doesn't seem to be much of a threat to us, even with that strange explosive device, but I have a feeling there's more to him than we realize," Captain America said, turning to Dr. Strange, "What do you think? You're the one with the most information when it comes to magic."

"From what I sensed, the magic that I sensed, likely from this 'overlord,' has an aura of the same…level as I could say as the Dread Lord Dormammu," Strange explained, making everyone shiver with nervousness at hearing that. Even Stark, who didn't believe in magic, couldn't deny the power of the monster.

"Do you think he's connected to Dormammu somehow?" Cap asked.

"I don't believe so," Strange said, "If I had to make a comparison, Dormammu and his followers' magic feel as though they seek to burn everything in their path to ashes, but this Overlord's magic feels more…corrupting, like he wants to take all sources of light and turn them to darkness."

"So what would you suggest?" Steve Rogers asked.

"For now, I would suggest we keep our distance from this Overlord. I'd like to try and do some research. This title of overlord sounds familiar, though where I heard it escapes me at the moment. If I had to guess, I heard the term in one of the older tomes in my library, though I cannot remember which."

"Get to work on that, Strange," Rogers said, "I'd like to know as much as what we can about what we can expect from him before we take him on."

Strange nodded in agreement before disappearing in a flash of magical energy. Rogers then ordered the remaining Avengers to avoid confrontation with the Overlord until Strange returned with his information unless it was absolutely necessary, which the more violence-prone Avengers, like the Hulk, Thor, and Wolverine, did not enjoy hearing.

"I understand your issues, but I'm hoping that we can convince him to give up before he goes too far. So far, he's only killed some criminals, so I'm hoping we can get him to stop before he starts putting innocent people in danger," Rogers said.

"I don't know, Cap," Spider-man said, "He didn't seem like a kid in an adult body. He was more like a fully-grown adult, just from the way he talked. He didn't seem to have issues with slaughtering civilians if it meant reaching his goal."

"I hope you're wrong, Spidey, I really do."

Meanwhile back in the Netherworld, Grim and his group was coming out of the portal with the minions carrying the tank of liquid adamantium.

"Welcome back, Master!" Gnarl said, coming to join his dark master, "I'm pleased to see that you got a new follower and that adamantium. I'm sure that Giblet will find a good use for it. Shall I show your new servant to where she might stay?"

"Yes, but tell Giblet not to do anything with the adamantium yet. I plan to do more with it than using it simply to make a newer set of armor and weapons."

"What do you have in mind, Master?" the minion master asked, curious about his Overlord's plans.

"We can't rely purely on magic in this day and age. We need technology to use against our enemies, so we'll need to find some people that are skilled in that, so they can help Giblet make what we need."

"I believe I might be able to help with that, my lord," said a voice behind Grim and his group. When he turned to see who spoke, he found it was a woman with inky black hair and a matching catsuit that was split open from the base of her neck to just above her waist."

"Ah, yes, I forgot to mention, Master, that another wench appeared offering her assistance to you."

The new woman put a hand on her hip and smirked confidently, "I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, my liege. I must say, you are even more impressive than I'd hoped you'd be."

Selene, however, latched herself onto Grim's left arm, glaring at the woman, "You're early," she said, simply.

The mystery woman's smirk grew, "Which means you haven't gotten the chance to 'serve' our lord yet, but such fun thoughts will have to wait until our master's plan is in place."

Girm looked at Selene, "This a friend of yours?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, my lord. This is the friend that I mentioned earlier. Overlord Grim Ebonyheart, meet Satana Hellstrom, the daughter of the Devil," Selene said.

Grim looked at the new woman in surprise while Gnarl chuckled in amusement, "I must say, Master, I approve of the women you have been attracting! A powerful sorceress, a bloodthirsty mutant, and now the daughter of the Devil!"

Grim nodded and turned back to Satana, "You said that you could help us with finding those that could work with technology. What would you want in return for this information?"

"Oh, that's easy, sire. I want what you've given Selene. I have long sought someone worth standing beside, someone worth my time. Thus far, only the tales of the overlords of old have kept me warm at night, but now that a new one has arisen to the dark throne I seek to become one of your mistresses."

"And what of your…feeding habits?" Selene asked. Grim looked at the two women questioningly. "Satana is a succubus who feeds on the souls of those she kisses."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, my liege. I choose who I wish to kill and the dark energy of the Netherworld will be able to sustain me," Satana explained.

Grim looked at his minion master, "Well, Gnarl, what do you think? Can we trust her?"

"Yes, Master. The Netherworld would warn you if someone here had any hostile intentions towards you."

Grim nodded and turned back to Satana, "You have a deal," he said, making the succubus smile widely, "So, what is this information that you have for me?"

"Like Selene has no doubt informed you that she has, I too have informants throughout the globe. One of these informants have let me know about a deal between the groups Hydra and A.I.M. and the men of the Kingpin."

"I'm not familiar with Hydra or A.I.M. Who are they?" Grim asked.

"Ah, forgive me, my liege. Hydra is a terrorist group that has cells all over the globe. They are said to be the most dangerous enemy to the organization S.H.I.E.L.D., are you aware of them?" Grim nodded. "A.I.M. is focusing more on technology and gaining more to achieve whatever goal they want at the time. As a result, they often side with Hydra in their plans. In other words, if you want a technology expert outside of Stark Industries, A.I.M. is where you need to go."

Grim smirked, "Guess we better go and introduce ourselves, shouldn't we?" Selene and Satana smiled giddily at the thought of serving their master by slaughtering and enslaving his enemies. Laura, however, looked emotionless, but Grim could tell she was uncomfortable. "Laura, think of this as practice for you to learn to do what you need to do."

"Not to mention that it will also be a bit of revenge for young Laura," Gnarl said, holding a folder of papers, "One of the minions brought this from your lab and I was examining it just now when Mistress Satana mentioned Hydra. Look at this, Master," Gnarl said, holding up the front of the folder showing a symbol that looked like a skull with tentacles coming out of the base.

"That's the symbol for Hydra," Satana explained, making any discomfort Laura might have been feeling to disappear.

"Can we go now, Master?" she asked, her fists clenched at her sides.

"Yes. Let's not keep them waiting," Grim said as he led the women and his browns through the Tower gate to New York. Satana and Selene used their magic to cloak the group from all senses while leading them to where the deal was taking place. When they arrived at the location, the deal was already going down. It appeared that the Kingpin's men were attempting to purchase something from the two terrorist groups.

"Do you have the product?" one of the Kingpin's thugs asked.

"Of course," the A.I.M. soldier in charge said, sounding a little insulted, "My employer, however, would like to remind your boss that this isn't the finished product that we would like. There will likely still be bugs in it."

The Kingpin thug shrugged, "It's not my problem. Kingpin wants it and he's gonna get it."

"Very well," The A.I.M. soldier said, waving for another man to bring a briefcase forward, "Here it is. Just don't expect to be able to call technical support if it doesn't work the way you want."

"Show us the product first. Then, you'll get your money," the Kingpin thug said.

The A.I.M. soldier sighed and gestured for the one holding the briefcase to open it up. The overlord's group couldn't see what it was, but it seemed to be sufficient to the client, who sent one of his men to hand over the briefcase of money, while grabbing the product. While this was happening, Grim gave his order for his forces to attack. Selene and Satana went to work at slaughtering the Kingpin's thugs, while Grim took his minions and new servant, Laura, into battle against the Hydra and A.I.M. soldiers. The enemies were caught off guard and weren't able to even consider launching a counterattack against their merciless attackers until almost half of their number was taken down. Once they started to open fire on the overlord's forces, Grim began to move behind cover to slowly make his way to one of the Hydra soldiers carrying an energy rifle. He used his mace to bash the man's head open before grabbing his rifle and using it with his open hand to shoot soldiers dead, while Laura just charged straight at her enemies, letting her healing factor repair any wounds she suffered from the enemy shots. The minions followed their usual tactics of running in and bashing the enemies to death before bashing some more.

The enemies were quickly overwhelmed with the last one being the A.I.M. leader, who was kneeling on the ground with Laura preparing to lop his head off with her claws. Just as she was about to execute him, Grim grabbed her arm mid-slash, making her turn to look at him.

"I want to ask him some questions first," Grim said as Satana and Selene came to join them. Laura merely nodded submissively and stepped back.

"I will tell you nothing," the soldier spat venomously.

Grim smirked beneath his helmet, "We'll see about that," he said before zapping him with his evil presence spell.

Once the man was under the spell, he stared blankly at Grim and emotionlessly begged, "Command me, O Lord."

"Tell me first who is in control of your cell?" Grim asked.

"The Tinkerer leads our cell, my lord, though he was only the one leading this deal and wasn't the one who created the product," the soldier said, reminding Grim of the briefcase. He moved over to it and opened it to find what appeared to be a vial of an unknown liquid.

"What is this?" Grim asked the soldier.

"It is a prototype of our version of the super soldier serum, the serum that gave Captain America his abilities."

Grim arched an eyebrow at that very interesting information before turning to Selene, "Take that back to the Tower then our new friend here will lead us to his cell."

Ten minutes later, a massive explosion of hellfire shook the A.I.M. cell, killing a group of the guards in the initial explosion. Grim led the charge with his rifle, killing more, while his followers brought up the rear, sticking close to his back.

"Who are these idiots that would dare attack us!?" the one known as the Tinkerer shouted over a PA system.

"That would be me. I am the overlord, Grim Ebonyheart!" Grim shouted at the mechanical specialist.

"No, you're a dead man!" the Tinkerer shouted before he slammed to the ground in a large mech suit.

"Shit!" Grim shouted as he dove behind cover while the mech opened fire with a gatling gun mounted on its arm.

He looked around to see his followers taking out the other soldiers, leaving only Grim himself and his minions to take on the Tinkerer. He sent out his minions to draw Tinkerer's attention while he moved out to fire his rifle at places that he noticed would be weaknesses in the mech's armor as he moved closer. One of his shots managed to hit the mass of wires controlling his gun, making it useless and leaving him with only short-range attacks.

"This doesn't mean anything, you idiot! I can still crush you! After all, that's all a Neanderthal like you can understand, right!?"

Grim, choosing not to answer, sent his minions at the mech, their number already reduced to five due to the machine gun, while he moved closer as well. The minions began to climb all over the mech, ripping out wires and smashing what they could until the overlord got close enough and pulled the hatch open to see the Tinkerer glaring at him.

"You won't succeed, you damn Neanderthal! If you're here to take me to jail, Hydra and A.I.M. will just break me out again!"

"Do I look like someone that's planning to take you to jail?" Grim said before he activated the evil presence spell, bringing the technical genius under his control. "Now, what do you say?"

"I apologize for my insults, my master," Tinkerer said, submissively, "How may I serve you?" 

"You'll come with me. I have need of someone with your skills. Come with us and we will let you know what you need to do," Grim said as his two mistresses made their way to him, while Laura followed them, drenched head to toe in blood. Grim looked her up and down before saying, "That's a good look for you, Laura."

She looked at her bloodstained hands, a ghost of a smile appearing on her face for a split second, "I could get used to it."

Grim smirked as he led the group back to the Tower. Once there, he turned to the Tinkerer, "Have one of the browns lead you to the forge. Tell Giblet that I want you two to make me new armor with this in it," he said handing over his rifle, "I also need some tech and try to find some way to improve my evil presence spell to affect more people at once."

"That's a lot to do, my lord. Such a project will be difficult to accomplish quickly," the Tinkerer said, his head bowed submissively.

"Just get it done," Grim said turning to Laura, "You go clean yourself off. Don't need you tracking blood all over my Tower." Laura nodded her obeying his order and walked off while Grim turned to his two mistresses. "You two will follow me to the private quarters. It's about time I gave you two a proper welcome to my Tower."

The two were clamped to his side, their arms wrapped around his, before he even finished speaking, smiles on their faces being so big that it looked like their heads were going to split open. About five minutes after they disappeared up the stairs, the entire tower began to violently shake and shiver, causing Laura to rush out of a hallway, still dripping wet from her bath and wrapped only in a towel.

"What's going on!? Are we under attack!?" Laura asked Gnarl, who just chuckled.

"No, young miss, our lord is merely enjoying the company of his mistresses," Gnarl said with a lecherous smile.

Laura just looked at him in confusion before she realized what he was implying, "Oh. Is it always like this?" she asked, getting used to the Tower shaking.

"Pretty much," Gnarl said, "He should be done in an hour or two. All we can do is wait for it."

While they were waiting for the overlord to 'finish,' Wilson Fisk AKA the Kingpin was receiving some rather irritating news from one of his high-ranking soldiers.

"So, let me get this straight: the deal for the serum was not only interrupted, but everyone involved was killed and the Hydra cell we were dealing with was wiped out. Now, both Hydra and A.I.M. are blaming us for everything because we sent some low-ranking men and they want us to handle the problem, this 'overlord.' Does that sum up the situation?"

"Yes, sir."

Fisk sighed, "I knew working with them was a mistake. We can't afford to have both of them coming after our organization, so we will do as they ask for now. How many assets do we have available?"

"I'm afraid almost all of our usual choices are either on assignment already or are unable to do the mission due to being in prison or the hospital."

"So how many do we have available?" Fisk asked, his annoyance with this issue growing by the second.

"One, sir," the soldier said, handing him a file.

Fisk looked at the name on the file before looking back at the soldier, "Really? He's the only one we can call for this?"

"I'm afraid so sir."

Fisk sighed, "Alright. Make the call and bring me some aspirin. In fact, bring me an entire bottle of it."

"Yes, sir," the soldier said, before leaving to do as he was instructed.

A couple hours after Grim took his mistresses up to his private quarters, he came back down to the throne room, where Gnarl and a now dressed Laura were waiting.

"I trust you enjoyed your mistresses, Master?" the minion master asked with a lecherous smile. Laura merely kept quiet and her face emotionless.

"Very much, Gnarl," Grim said, "Now, is there any business that we need to take care of?"

"Actually, yes, Master, there is. Someone is at the Tower Gate seeking an audience with you. Would you like me to bring him in?"

"Yes," Grim said, sitting on his throne.

Just then, there was a flash of blue lightning and a man in a business suit appeared.

"Greetings, Overlord Ebonyheart," the man said, bowing his head respectfully.

"You know me?" Grim asked.

The man smiled, "You have made a big impression in the short time that you have been on the scene. Making enemies of Hydra, A.I.M., the Kingpin, and the Avengers all at once tends to send a big message. So much so that my employers would like to make you an offer."

"Your employers?"

"They are a group of people with…unique skills. While your abilities are of a different source than what they typically search for, you've impressed them enough that they're willing to make an exception. They offer you membership in the group and will help you in your endeavors if you accept. Also, they have sent me to add an incentive to get you to join them. They recently came into possession of something they believe to be yours," the man said, pulling out a laptop and playing a video.

"Is that…?" Gnarl asked.

"Your employers found the red minion hive?" Grim asked, as the video showed the red minions burning various objects of what seemed like a warehouse.

"Yes, overlord."

"So, you are essentially saying if I join your group, then I will get what is essentially my property anyway," Grim said, his annoyance growing.

"No, no, not at all. My employers will give you the hive regardless. You just have to come and collect it. It is merely an incentive for you to join."

Grim thought about it for a few seconds, "When will your employer expect an answer?"

"He informed me that he would appreciate a swift answer, but he understands that you would need some time to consider it. He also would understand if you do not feel comfortable coming alone, though he asks if you bring your brown creatures that you keep them under control."

Grim nodded and a thought occurred to him, "I forgot to ask. What is your group called?"

"The Hellfire Club, sir."

**A/N: There's chapter 2! Please remember to review with any comments, question, concerns, or constructive criticism that you might have.**


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